When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite. But they don’t laugh.

Melanie is a very special girl.

Emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end, THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is the most powerful and affecting thriller you will read this year.

I’m a little confused as to why this is described as a thriller. It’s SF to my mind, post apocalypse adventure. I really enjoyed it, though I’m not sure about the affecting bit. Certainly for a couple of days afterwards it stuck in my mind, although I was slightly distracted by a couple of continuity errors – when I first read it I thought it must be a pre publication copy (I was reading via Netgalley), but no, this is available right now. I’m guessing most people won’t pick up on them – they aren’t huge, just slightly irritating if you’re as pedantic as I am.

So, if you enjoy a good post apocalyptic story with strong characters, a fair bit of gore, danger, death and maybe a spot of romance (yes, it’s all in there) this one is for you. For all of that, it didn’t feel stereotyped, and is certainly a step away from the YA dystopians I’ve been reading. Refreshing change in fact.

I did debate the ending with myself somewhat. It wasn’t where I expected the story to go, although it had a central coherence to it, so did feel plausible. (I hate it when books have endings that feel they’ve been tacked on. Or don’t end at all, just kind of stop.) I wasn’t sure whether it was where it *should* have gone though, if you know what I mean – and I’ve been continuing to consider alternatives. That’s probably a sign of a good book, isn’t it? That you’ve bought into the set up, the environment, the characters, so well that you’re still working with it long after you’ve finished reading.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. I’m pondering a new review policy, similar to that I’ve seen other book bloggers following, in which I will only write up books I recommend. Doesn’t feel entirely authentic though, so I’m still working on the full details. Anyway, if you’ve book reviews or reading challenge posts you’d like to link up, please do.